We had planned a shortened meeting to accommodate a ride to Fort Mountain to follow. The short meeting got even shorter as the laptop used for downloading Internet pages wouldn't fire-up its WiFi circuits (that's the same laptop now being used to upload this article; go figure).

However important changes came out of the meeting. The overnight ride to the Cherohala and Smoky Mountains has been rescheduled to May 18-19 and the monthly meeting for May has been cancelled as it falls on the Memorial Day weekend end when many riders have family plans.

Moreover, a ride on what some call the Long Loop (Dial, Morganton, Suches, Wolf Pen Gap, Richard Russell) is now scheduled for April 14th and the regular monthly meeting April 28th.

Eight of us were able to attend our monthly meeting though only a few rode in, as the weather was cool in spite of the bright sunlight. We welcomed back our favorite, Ken Klaus and his Baloney Shop where this month he addressed the wrong impression Jefferson Bethke's "Why I Love Jesus, But Hate Religion" gives its viewers. Klaus has a great way of getting his message across.

Bob (the elder) took the group through a few changes and additions recently made to the web site's Web-link contents. A Face Plant group pulls together all of the Mulholland Drive examples with other similar videos, while Roads To Remember has a number of quality videos of outstanding motorcycle roads added. Dan reminded us that the web-site is well into its third year and up for renewal. Bob (the younger) generously covered the cost for the next three years.

We started the second year of TLCMC with a meeting attended by all but a few who couldn't make it. The fourth, and final episode of Bible On Trial was viewed and plans set to return to LHM's "Baloney Shop" next meeting. A couple of short videos, depicting the real-life danger of wet pavement markers and oil drippings on off-ramps brought on discussion of various ways gravity can win when in a turn or stopping.

Bob brought in the SPOT Messenger he received at Christmas and described how it works , and showed the group a few web pages that demonstrated some ways it can be used in emergencies and more routinely to inform friends and family of your progress traveling by motorcycle or hiking. There was a lot of interest and some of the questions required more explanation. Here is a web site that should help (be sure to click on the demos):

Nine riders were able to make it to the meeting, including one new participant, Mark Hoffman. Mark doesn't have wheels yet but he is hot on the trail of a Yamaha cruiser. Mark is new to motorcycling but has completed the MSF course and has his endorsement.

The group continued into episode three of Bible On Trial, the video prepared by Lutheran Hour Ministries to counter the misinformation currently getting attention in the media. They then were amazed by the skill of the BMW trick rider captured on a video that is linked  on our website (Not For Wimps #23). When watching keep an eye out for that dismount.